Examiner Reporter Finds Sticky Situation

Yesterday, The Examiner’sYeas and Nays‘ reporter Nikki Schwab got herself in a pickle when she wrote a piece saying Chef Anthony Bourdain had been spotted at Ping Pong Dim Sum. Bourdain tweeted, “Your Examiner piece about me and ‘Ping Pong’ is entirely erroneous. I have no knowledge of the place.” Bourdain, who will launch his new show on CNN early next year, was in town for the Capital Food Fight. Schwab was clearly taken aback by Bourdain’s tweet and said the restaurant had given her the information. “Wow, that’s really messed up,” she replied on Twitter. “I’ll make sure we set the record straight. I apologize.” We reached out to a confused Bourdain, who tells FBDC, “I’ve never been. Never mentioned the place on stage. Nor did I ever say anything that could be interpreted has having referred to the place. ”

Schwab’s piece was quickly deleted after Bourdain called out the screw up. But, here’s the text of the piece and evidence that the chef knows how to hold a grudge…

“No Reservations” host Anthony Bourdain has a fondness for Ping Pong Dim Sum’s dumplings and let the world know about it at Monday night’s Capital Food Fight, a fundraiser for the D.C. Central Kitchen. “You all should go to Ping Pong in Chinatown for dumplings,” we hear he announced to the crowd. Bourdain popped by the restaurant on Friday where he enjoyed a glass of wine at the bar.

What the hell is going on? We reached out to Schwab, who declined to comment and directed us instead to the restaurant. When I called, things got slightly lost in translation. The man answering the phone excitedly thought that I was informing him that Bourdain would be visiting the restaurant. When I finally got the questions out, he referred me to the manager, whose phone had a busy signal for most of Wednesday morning. We aren’t the only ones apparently having a hard time getting a straight answer from the restaurant. The Braiser website reported not hearing back from them, too. Bourdain handled this whole flap by smacking Ping Pong for pushing the BS story.

@nikkischwab I am quite certain there is no truth to the story that they use ground hamster in their dumplings. #notPingPong!